About this collection

The first real effort to provide accurate, if nonlegal, standards of weights and measures was made by Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler (1770-1843), a Swiss engineer and metrologist who emigrated to this country at the age of 35. Upon the establishment of the Coast Survey in the Treasury Department, Hassler became its first superintendent, holding that office from 1807 to 1818. In 1832, he was reappointed superintendent of the Coast Survey. In 1836, the Office of Weights and Measures was established in the U.S. Coast Survey. The Office of Weights and Measures became the National Bureau of Standards in 1901. Hassler continued as superintendent of the Coast Survey until his death in November 1843 at the age of 73. This photographic collection contains images of Hassler’s instruments, a monument dedicated to his life and work, and portraits of Hassler and his family.

On May 3, 1900, the House Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures met to consider a letter recently submitted by the Secretary of the Treasury requesting the establishment of a national standardizing bureau. Within 10 months the bill founding the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) passed both houses of Congress. The images in this collection document the request letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, the first payroll records, and photographs of early members of the NBS staff.

During 1976, NBS staged a year-long celebration of its 76th year of service to the Nation with open houses at both its Gaithersburg and Boulder campuses with exhibits, symposia, workshops, and films. The party began on March 1, with a ceremonial visit to the Gaithersburg campus by Secretary of Commerce Elliot Richardson and the opening of a 4-day symposium staged by the Institute for Basic Standards.

This collection documents President Ronald Reagan’s surprise visit to a Federal Conference on Commercial Applications of Superconductivity on July 28, 1987. The Federal government, he announced, should strive mightily to develop and commercialize the field of high-temperature superconductivity.